Menu

Everything in the world of functional fitness

Russell Berger vs. Mark Rippetoe on ESPN

“You don’t get to mis-define a thing, and then on the basis of that mis-definition, say that that thing is bad … it’s incumbent upon you, if you’re going to make a criticism of something, that you actually have at your command a working definition of the thing you’re criticizing …” – Mark Rippetoe, 2008.

I recently appeared on ESPN’s Outside the Lines to “react” to Mark Fainaru-Wada’s theatrical and inaccurate critique of CrossFit. I appeared opposite Mark Rippetoe, a former CrossFit subject matter expert in the barbell lifts, who left our organization a few years ago due to personal disagreements. You can watch our conversation here.

Our discussion quickly strayed from Mark Fainaru-Wada’s segment and became focused almost entirely on Rippetoe’s personal issues with CrossFit, which he has written about on T-Nation’s website. Rip’s issues stem from his own misunderstanding of the CrossFit program, which he perceives to be random, and…